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About me.....
May. 27, 2008
Summer.....
warm weather, bugs, swimming......the "end" of school. Do you ever really quit though? This summer we'll be busy taping and mudding our addition. We're getting close to being done. Well closer than we ever thought we'd be! We spent Memorial Day weekend at the inlaws. The kids got to swim and ski. The water was still too cold for me though. Here's a pic of oldest dd in a moment of glory. She had been up awhile and was doing good and then suddenly.......SPLAT!
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May. 4, 2008
Spring is here.........
| and its so wonderful! We've been busy getting out garden in. So far its looking good. We've got corn, beans, tons of tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, several kinds of squash, broccoli and I planted rhubarb this year. That was my impulse planting this year. I've never had anything rhubarb before but it just sounds good to me so i planted it! I hope it doesn't turn out like the spaghetti squash I planted one year that no one liked! We're still trying to keep busy with school but this time of year is hard. The kids and I would much rather be outdoors doing something. I'm counting the garden as a science project for them. They've worked so hard starting seeds inside and watching them grow to the point they could put them outside. they'll be helping tend the garden and put up the harvest too. |
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Jan. 21, 2008
Is it cold enough for you?
I personally love cold weather! I have a dream (all it will ever be) of living somewhere that gets really cold....like Montana. To think of snow for months instead of maybe hours is just mind boggling. We hauled another load of firewood today. Even though its not that cold here in the south we still need a lot of wood in this drafty old house. At least the new well is doing great and the water has not frozen up yet. I think we wrapped those pipes very well. that was a rough week! We did learn a few things though......we've been doing the Prairie primer with the younger kids and had just finished The Long Winter.....one of the questions the girls had was what did they do about going to the bathroom? So we took this "opportunity" to learn about outhouses and composting toilets. We tried a composting toilet and it actually wasn't too bad! The older teens and dh though just absolutely refused to even try it. They'd rather drive to the store or a friend's or wait until work they said. That's fine for them....but can you imagine having to take 4 children out every time one of them needed to go to the bathroom? And one of them potty training? they thought the composting toilet was neat.....especially the boys. It had one very big advantage too....no clogged toilet lines! If you have kids you know what I mean. Oh the things we've had to get out of those lines......lets just say Ivory soap doesn't always float!
In all though the last few weeks have been good. I'm in a major slump as far as getting school done though. I am just not motivated.....I think I have adult add! Seriously! I start on something and before I can finish it I'm off to do something else. Please tell me its a mom thing! |
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Dec. 11, 2007
NO WATER!!!!!!!!!!!
| Our well is dry. I have been afraid all summer of it happening. Sunday it did. I was in the shower and someone flushed a toilet........good thing I was finished. We didn't realize though that it had happened. We got home from church and tried to start lunch. No water to make the rice. Luckily I had a 5 gallon jug put back. Hubby worked all afternoon and all day Monday on it thinking it was the pump. We finally got it pumping and that's when we knew....it wasn't pumping because there's nothing left to pump. It's a sobering realization that you have absolutely no water. You just don't think about how much you use till its not there.....no water to bathe obviously but there's also none to rinse your hands or veggies. All the million times you turn the faucet on and there's nothing coming out. And the toilet...........oh my. Do you know how much water it takes to flush your toilet.....I do. Even with flushing only when we have to buying gallons of water to flush is just not an option. So we're making lemons out of lemonade.....so to speak. We've been doing the Prairie Primer and just finished The Long Winter. One of the questions the girls had was "what did they do about going to the bathroom when they were snowed in by the blizzards?" Well we thought they had a chamber pot.......so we have taken it a step farther. We now have a composting toilet....at least temporarily. The smell is nowhere near as offensive as necessity flushing. I will be glad to have water back though....we just have to come up with the money to drill a new well.......$3500 minimum. |
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Nov. 21, 2007
The holidays are fast approaching...let the war begin...
| amongst my so called family that is. I have two sisters, my grannie, and my mother in the family. I am very close with my youngest sis...always have been. The middle sis is much like my mother in temperament and actions. We rarely speak. Grannie doesn't know who any of us are anymore. Mother is off her rocker....one day she'll cuss you enough to make a sailor blush and the next she thinks you're supposed to think she hung the moon. And you know what if they want to be that way then let them. I frankly just don't care .....BUT leave me out of it! My middle sis and I started trying to get along this past year. We have dd's that are a year apart and they were chatting up a storm...until my dd came to me and told me that her cuz was having boys over when sis wasn't home and stuff was happening. Now given that my niece was14yo I felt like sis should know. Long story short is they're saying the boy raped her. Sis hasn't spoken to me in months.....very short with me when I tried to talk to her. Then when things were rough here this past spring I just really had the energy to barely get thru my day........there was no room for handling anyone with kid gloves. Then when she brought Grannie down here and dropped her off she was downright rude (wouldn't even sit down!)and later in the week blasted me over the phone and by email. It was all about how I'm treating her differently because of what went on with her dd. You know that has nothing to do with it. I didn't talk to her this summer yeah....but I didn't call my younger sis either....she called me. Excuse me I was dealing with my own set of problems! Younger sis and I are close enough that she knew things were bad. And I've mentioned 3x to middle sis in email and phone calls that it was a rough summer and that dh had to change jobs.....she has yet to ask if things are ok or even acknowledge that she heard/read what I said. Anyway I got an email from middle sis yesterday saying "hello, am I to assume no one wants to get together for Christmas?..just wanted to check." Now I've not said one word about Christmas......(to be completely honest I haven't even thought that far ahead. I'm busy trying to make some gifts and we're still not sure when dh is off)....not a "hey are we getting together or anything" just automatically start with being negative. But ya know what? They're NOT spoiling my holidays! if they want to sit there and feel sorry for themselves (the old I'm so mistreated attitude) then they can. Frankly I'm going to be happy and thankful. That is the choice I make. I've got a lot to be thankful and happy about. Dh and I survived a blow that very well could have destroyed us...it hasn't. We've pulled thru and are moving forward. I still have my best friend and he's happier and more relaxed than I've seen him in years. we have 6 healthy, happy, wonderful children. We have a roof over our heads, food in the freezer, and enough $ to pay the bills. We have a wonderful church family that has been there so many times for us. So I'm being happy and thankful.....what they choose to be is their own decision of their own making! So this year we're going to eat our turkey dinner, make the majority of our Christmas gifts and enjoy life. if they want to join us with happy attitudes they're welcome but we're NOT doing stress and gloom this year! |
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Nov. 9, 2007
The kind of phone call you hate to get......
| no matter that you know its coming, that its only a matter of time, no matter that you know its for the best. You still hate to get that call. The call came today. Dh's grandmother passed this morning. We saw her last weekend. She barely looked like the same woman I remembered. She's been in a nursing home for a couple years and dh just couldn't go see her. He was afraid that as soon as he did she would die. Something this past weekend though nudged him and out of the blue he wanted to go. So we loaded up the kids and made the trip. I almost cried when I saw her. She was never a big woman but she had a big personality. I remember going to her house....oh the food she put on the table! She was the busiest woman I know. I think the only time she sat still was to hold her great grandchildren. She was about the same size as our 11yo dd now though. Age and disease had riddled her body. She was congested and couldn't breathe, therefore she wasn't eating. She said she was ready to go. Still it hurts. I have to be the one to tell dh....he's still at work though. Its not the kind of news I want to leave him a message about either. The younger kids don't know yet either. DD 11 has already said she didn't want to go to her funeral. Last weekend dh also learned that his best friend's mother had passed and at nearly the same time our niece had a baby boy. I wonder if there was a new life today? |
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Oct. 31, 2007
I love this picture!
This is our dog...he's about 6 months old in this pic. He's a big baby. We went camping this past summer and I think he had as much fun as we did.....especially swimming! |
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Oct. 31, 2007
Why do parents do this????
| One of my daughters has a friend over today. Our church fall festival is tonight. The girls have been planning this for weeks down to their costumes. The festival is our alternative to Halloween. The kids get to dress up as something not scary, they get a hayride, a wiennie roast, and they get to trunk or treat. We met up with this little girl and her mom this afternoon only to find out that at the last minute she's not allowed to dress up. Not because they have issues with it but because the mom and dad are separating and the dad bought her a costume. Mom takes the costume and tells her that if she dresses up she's in big trouble. Well of course she called dad (why does an 11yo need a cell phone?) and he's bringing her costume to her at the church, after he goes and gets it from mom's car. So she's caught between them and so am I now. I know that her mom doesn't want her to dress up but I don't have the right to tell her dad a thing. Saying anything won't help either. I remember being caught between my parents....it felt lousy to know that the only reason they cared was to get another "dig" in at other. I just wish that if people decide they can't get along they would remember that their kids are there and involved and everything they say and do to get at each other affects those children. |
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Oct. 27, 2007
Changing the way we celebrate Christmas
| This is something I've felt for several years...Christmas is WAY too commercialized. It just feels like its lost its meaning. Dh feels the same way. So since this year we are really not in a position to go all out we've decided what better time to change things. For one thing the kids are getting three gifts each....period. Not major $ things either. We're trying to focus more on making each other gifts than anything else. Dh is making oldest dd speaker boxes for her car...he's heard something about fleece and some type of varnish and it hardening so he's doing that. Next dd I'm thinking a skirt she has seen that she likes and a making her a pocketbook like one she has that she loves but is worn out. The younger kids though are pretty well taken care of. I'm making pajamas for all 4 of them, backpacks for the girls and some car shaped pillows for the boys. For each other the girls are making jewelry (have all the stuff already) and younger dd's are making the boys more pj's. the boys are making jewelry for the girls with my help. I've got a pattern saved in my project file to make a tree chain our of felt and since I have a crafty dd I'm thinking about letting them make as many of the decorations this year as possible and not even getting the other stuff out. Since we've been doing Little House for school and they're hearing what they did for Christmas they are all up for this. I'm hoping that it will make Christmas about more than just how much they get and have it not be so stressful on us. We've already let extended family know that we won't be buying gifts this year. I am going to make my youngest sis a pocketbook for her birthday on the 28th though. This basically lets us have one trip for shopping this year instead of numerous ones and buying for too many people. I've always tried to put some thought into the gifts and am usually so exhausted by the time Christmas comes that I'm just ready for it to be over. |
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Oct. 26, 2007
Some days I just wonder......
| My grandmother has been with us this past week. I love her dearly. I give her all the credit for me being the person I am today. She was the one constant stable figure in my life growing up. She's in her 90's now and suffering the effects of Alzheimer's. It is heartbreaking to have her look at me and ask me who I am and if I'm related to her. It's even more heartbreaking to have to return her to my mother's house where I am not sure she gets the care she needs. Legally there is nothing I can do. I know....I've spent literally hours on the phone with various agencies. As long as there's no noticeable neglect and no noticeable abuse their hands are all tied. I'm sure that my mother loves Grandmother......in her own way. I also grew up with her though and know how twisted that love can be. Knowing that Grandmother can't say if something wrong is happening makes it even worse. So this week my children have learned a few hard lessons. .....life is about more than bookwork anyway right? They've helped take care of their great grandmother, they've asked why she doesn't tell them the stories about her life growing up that she used to, they've asked what Alzheimer's is and why she has it. They've also asked if she will die. The question I have though is "Have we really done a good thing by increasing the length of life when the quality is so low?" My grandmother was the most capable woman I have ever known. She worked all day in a cotton mill, worked a garden, and helped with their small farm all her life, and she was active in her church. In her late 70's she still worked and had farm animals. Now her day revolves around asking where the potty is every time she needs to go......never mind that its in the same place by her bed as it always is. I know the day will come soon when she will need to fed and will have no lucid moments. I don't look forward to that time. |
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Oct. 1, 2007
Home Sweet Home
| Vacation is nice...really it is. But there's just something about home that beats it all. The comfort of your own bed at night, the sameness of your routines, your own cooking. We had a wonderful time on the Outer Banks. We walked to the top of the Hatteras Lighthouse and oh what an amazing view it was. We saw what was left of the ponies on Ocracoke.....I saw them when I was MUCH younger and it saddened me to see them now. We played in the ocean till we were water and sandlogged. We say every year that next year we're only going away for 3-4 days. That that is about the right amount to not have extremely worn out children. And every year we forget. By Thursday oldest ds was showing signs of exhaustion and so was one of the girls. Friday they were tired but kept on going. By this time ds is not hungry though. I checked for fever. Seriously this kid eats more than any little person I have ever seen. For him not to eat is major! Saturday dd was begging to come home. We had one last event with all the extended family (I did mention this week was spent with all my inlaws right?) and she about lost it at the restaraunt. I ended up taking her and ds out to the van to lay down till everyone else was done. The homecoming yesterday was joyous. The closer we got the more the kids perked up. Of course dh took his own sweet time backing the trailer in the drive before anyone could get out. The dogs were scratching and whining at the door by the time we got the van doors open. Everyone slept good last night and today the real fun begins.........washing and putting everything back up. Which isn't an easy task when you add in 75lbs of puppy that is so happy that "mom" is home that he won't get out from under my feet! |
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Sep. 22, 2007
The last few things....
I'm currently trying to get us all ready for vacation. All of my inlaws are getting together for a week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of dh's parents. That's such a good thing to celebrate! I'm supposed to write them a letter telling them what this means to me (dh is supposed to write one also but we'll see if he does!). My inlaws are wonderful. I have been truly blessed having them in my life. They have shown me how a functional family works, how a husband and wife relate to each other in a healthy way. They've shown me that you can be mad at each other and even "fight" and it doesn't mean divorce. They have been wonderful role models and I can never thank them enough for that. We've only been married 21 years and I truly do hope to one day celebrate our 50th much like they are doing.....with their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren with them.
Getting 8 people ready to leave for a week though is no easy task! I think I've washed all week long trying to get them packed. Everytime I'd get something clean someone would just have to wear it! I had to go through some more clothes to get shorts for the boys. They have stains on most of theirs it seems from our wonderful red clay dirt. It does NOT wash out. Luckily I had a tub of clothes that were put up and I didn't have to buy a thing for them. When we get back though I need to go through and get rid of some clothes. They now have too many play clothes!
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